The American photographer appears in the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2020 campaign alongside the model Toni Smith
Released today, JW Anderson’s new campaign is both shot by and starring the American photographer Tyler Mitchell, who appears the images alongside the Jamaica-born model and musician Toni Smith.
The campaign captures the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection, which Jonathan Anderson has previously described as being about taking up space. “[At a runway show] you have to walk into a space of strangers,” he said backstage. “How do you compete with the space?” In practice, this meant expansive trapezoid jackets, vast shimmering gowns, and dramatic embellishment-like celluloid ruffles, which sat on the sleeves like unspooled cassette tapes (Smith models one such dress in the campaign). “I wanted something optimistic,” he continued.
A similarly optimistic note is struck within the images, which see Smith and Mitchell model upon a child’s roundabout (in the shot in which Mitchell appears – wearing pieces from the Autumn/Winter 2020 menswear collection – he stands on the roundabout with his camera held to his face, as if poised to take a photo). “The imagery intends to bring a fun, young and carefree spirit, aligning perfectly with JW Anderson’s playful aesthetic and Mitchell’s signature style,” the accompanying notes describe.
This campaign represents a continuation of Anderson’s collaboration with Mitchell, who has photographed campaigns and lookbooks for both JW Anderson and Loewe, where the designer works as creative director. In April, Mitchell was interviewed in lockdown on JW Anderson’s Instagram account about what makes their collaboration so strong. “I really love his work,” says Mitchell. “[When we first met] we just got along. We were talking about art, we were talking about auctioning and buying art, which I know he loves to do. From there we just kicked it off and started working together.”
